Grant PUD budget hearings Tuesday

EPHRATA — The Grant County Public Utility District will hold two public hearings Tuesday to discuss the proposed PUD budget for 2025. Hearings are scheduled for 2 p.m. and 6 p.m., both at the commission hearing room at the Ephrata headquarters, 30 C St. SW. A virtual option is available; information on joining is available on the PUD website, www.grantpud.org. 

Utility district commissioners typically adopt a budget in November. 

The hearings will include a review of the proposed budget; expenditures for 2025 are projected to be about $367.8 million. Projected expenditures for 2024 were about $347 million.   

The PUD is projected to end 2025 in the black, with about $192.3 million when all the expenses are paid. 

That's more than the original budget projection for 2024 but less than the updated budget projections from summer 2024. 

Angelina Johnson, senior manager of treasury and financial planning, said some of the district carryover is driven by sales of PUD power, and that can be a volatile market. 

“(The budget) is just a projection. And we’re looking to be conservative because we anticipate that the volatility in the markets is not going to stay high like that,” she said. 

Continued growth is projected, but not as fast as projected in 2023. Brandon Ecklund, lead financial analyst, said most of the projected load growth was in the industrial sector, and the anticipated schedules have changed. 

“The (reduction) was a result of construction delays as it relates to industrial load. So we’re bringing that load on a little slower because of the construction delays. Looking out to 2026, it starts to pick back up and ramp up at that point in time,” Ecklund said.  

Operations and maintenance expenses are projected to be about $236.5 million, an increase of about $18.2 million from the current forecast for 2024. Operations and maintenance pay the cost of running the PUD, from salaries to supplies. 

The capital expense budget is projected to increase by about $81.1 million when compared to 2024. Ecklund said some but not all of that is a change in the way expenditures are calculated, but it also includes more projects. 

“We’re seeing kind of a transition from work down at the dams to the electric system. So a lot more transmission line buildout, substation buildout as well as a facilities buildout,” he said. 

Work will begin in 2025 on a new service center in Ephrata, Ecklund said. Christine Pratt, PUD public information officer, said PUD officials plan to buy property for a new Moses Lake service center in 2025. 

Additional planning and construction are scheduled for PUD transmission lines around Quincy and Royal City.  

    The Grant County PUD projected expenses are about $367 million for 2025. Two public hearings on the budget are scheduled for Tuesday.